Author: NovemberRain

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 6:59 pm

New to the forum. After being on Suboxone for 3 1/2 years, I have finally weaned down to 1.25 mgs a day. I am scheduled for surgery on the 24th. Is my dose low enough that if I need pain meds, they will work? I’m okay with stopping my dose 48 hours prior to surgery if that helps.
I appreciate any and all responses.

Author: Fireman

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:47 pm

Hey Gittings, I am just one year younger than you and have had very similar experiences. I remember telling my parents for the first time about my addiction and it was so hard. By the time I had informed my parents I had been using nowhere near as much as you but it was still bad. Because my parents had no knowledge about addiction to pain killers I was pretty much grounded, no phone, and they were my only transportation. A month later I relapsed and picked up right where I left off. I felt awful lying to them and the guilt that went along with it. Fast forward a year I had about two more relapses. After the final time I wanted to try suboxone and my parents supported me. I also went to a six week outpatient drug program that was 3 hours nightly.

I know exactly how you feel right now. It is so important to basically erase every form of contact with users and dealers. You obviously didn’t intend on running into the person you did which triggered a relapse, but you need to prepare yourself for future scenarios to avoid any kind of relapse in the future. Congratulations on getting to the point where you currently are. I know it was hard, but it is worth it and your life depends on it. I am also new to this site, but I can tell you it is a big help and I want you to know the people on here are extremely informed on addiction so feel free to ask whatever you need.

Author: indigochild

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 8:01 pm

has got to be two people logged into one handle. Those post were obviously written by two different people. I’m guessing husband and wife? one of you should make a seperate handle

Author: tearj3rker

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 8:57 pm

These days it’s Lithium SR 450mg at night.
Lamicttal 100mg morning & night (ie 200mg)

It’s been the most effective mood-stabiliser regime. My doc wants me to have 675mg lithium, but I really can’t function or study well on that level. I almost feel like a 28 year old with Alzheimer’s. Lithium has been the preferred mood-stabiliser, mainly because rates of suicide drop significantly on lithium over other mood-stabilisers.

The real revelation has been the St. John’s wort and Inositol, and to a degree the fish oil. When I started taking the high doses of fish oil, the first thing I noticed was I started having dreams again. And I was remembering my dreams too. I can literally remember all my dreams as vividly as I remember my waking hours. Weird?

After Interferon tx my mood was haywire. Rapid cycling even mixed-states, at stages off the scale. Then it settled into mostly gruelling depression with occasional hypomanic spikes. Then I reached out for St John’s wort and Inositol. St John’s wort because it’s proven to be effective for mild depression with almost no side-effects. But having bipolar, I’m sensitive to anti-deps. For me it boosted my mood out of the darkness without making me too happy like the SNRI’s. The inositol seems to have a stabilising effect, but how much I can’t tell at this stage. I’m too wary of stopping it to find out how useful it is, just because I haven’t felt this stable and trusting of my feelings for … years.

If you’re ever struggling ex, you could always give them a try. There’s little harm in trying. But St John’s wort shouldn’t be taken if you’re on other anti-depressants, and none should be used to replace existing medication.

Author: NoMorePills

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:07 pm

I never really felt WD’s from the larger drops. I went from 8mgs to 4 to 2 to one within a month and did not feel anything bad until I got under 1mg. I am at .3mg now. I did .5 mg for about 6 days then .4 for a day but the second day I only took.3 and got away with it. I am going to stay on .3 for another 5 days to make sure I am stable then drop to .25. Hopefully that is not a hard drop.
Back to the relating part, when I dropped to a low dose of sub (below 2 mg) I became a huge horndog too. It was very comforting to feel like my old self after three years of little to no deisre. Was afraid I had just gotten old (I just turned 36) but apparently that is not the case.

As for the REstless legs, I have tried homeopathic stuff and most was worthless but I think the Hylands Nerve tonic helped a little. Not a ton but enough to take the edge off. Strangely their restful leg pills were of no help. Good luck and keep updating. It helps everyone, I know it does me.

Author: sweet16

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:09 pm

Hi everyone, I have decided to split my once daily dose of .25 into twice daily. I think it will make it easier for me to transition and further taper. I know I am at a small dose (250 mcg.) It has been near 4 weeks at this dose and I believe it has taken the entire time to adjust. I did take an extra .125mg on 2 occasions just to get thru the weekend. It helped & I certainly felt those increases. It did not seem to set me back at all. I have really worked on my sobriety by keeping active and walking daily. I have noticed a slight thought, not so much a craving, but more a split second thought of craving. Hard to explain, but I have not considered using, however the thought crossed my mind of the feeling that I once felt, or something like that. Anyway, I have been talking to the "Man" (praying?) and asking the universe for strength. I do know that this is going to be a daily struggle to different degrees, I am prepared to fight and be strong. I am going to stay at this split dose until I feel stable again. I do not know how splitting my dose will affect me if at all. I can not immagine I will feel horrible as I am on such a small dose & I do believe I am still shedding bupe from my recepters. I still sneeze often and experience symptoms even though they are very slight. I am excited to be near the end. I feel once again ready to be off and I know it will be soon….
Is there anyone else at a point where they are about to jump or be off? Is there anyone else at .25 mg?
Hope everyone is doing wonderful

Author: NoMorePills

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:16 pm

Yes the liquid is great. I kept trying to break an 8mg pill into 1/16 and I was really just taking gummers of Sub dust at that point. Now I dissolve 1/4 into 20Ml of water and that gives me .1mg/ml. It stays mixed and I can feel it pretty quickly. What was your dose of other opiates? I was on 8 mg the first day and it carried me over easily into my second day. That was when I realized I could get away with less. The doctors don’t want you weaning on your own, but depending on your previous drug of choice and dose you may be able to get by on less. My friend who introduced me to my sub doc was taking 20-30 10mg Norcos a day and she started at 32, then dropped almost immediately to 16 and a few weeks later to 8 which she stayed on for 6 months and just recently decided that since I was able to reduce so fast she would try too. She was on 2mg for about 3 months and then did a rapid taper for about a month and jumped off at 1mg. She had bad flu like symptoms for about a week then every day was better and is fine now after about three weeks. I think going down to a really small dose like .1mg is a better choice but to each their own.
Good luck!

Author: Matt2

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 10:24 pm

Yeah the only difference Ive noticed is the smaller pupil size. I remember back a few years when I started dating my current wife for the firs time since getting clean (we dated for a couple years on and off when I as still using). At the time I had been clean for a year and I was thinking about coming off sub. What made me keep taking sub maintenance was a combo of finding suboxontalkzone.com and the fact that Ashley told me I looked and acted like I did before I started using opiates/heroin. We went to highschool together and dated off and on then too. I was shocked considering I didn’t tell her I was on bupe maintenance until wed been dating a few months after I got out of treatment lol

Author: amber4.14.11

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 11:49 pm

I found this forum too, after I had been on suboxone about 7 months I think.

see, when I was using, we never had money for a computer, let alone an internet connection, or even CABLE tv for that matter!!!

Isnt it nice to have your life back in ‘order’???

Anyways, wanted to say HOWDY
I really hope you find this site as therapuetic as i have. the days where I feel really alone, it seems like all I have to do is log on here and ‘post’ what ever it is thats bothering me and things are just a little bit better…..

WELCOME
I hope you stick around!!!!!
talk to you soon

Author: sjtpalmer

Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 1:25 am

these savings card are great, I’m not exactly sure how they work, but it’s awesome!